“Sam Norman is remarkable… Genius writing” — StagetoPage
Hi, I’m Sam — an award-winning (but more often award-losing) rhymester who bounces between the UK and US.
I mostly write lyrics and libretti for musicals and operas. Sometimes I write screenplays and light verse.
Recently… Echolocation (winner of the 2025 MTI Stiles & Drewe Mentorship Award), The Shadow, Come Dine With Me: The Musical.
You might have seen my work produced and/or developed off-West End, off-Broadway and regionally, at venues including the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Turbine Theatre, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and the Edinburgh Fringe.
I’m currently a Resident Artist at the American Lyric Theater. In the past I’ve been a Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriter, an American Opera Initiative Fellow, a winner of the Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry in Translation, a Lincoln Center Broadway Future Songbook writer and a three-time finalist for the Stiles & Drewe Best New Song Prize. I’m a proud member of Mercury Musical Developments, the BMI Musical Theatre Librettists Workshop and the Dramatists Guild.
I’ve failed at lots of things! I’d like to create a CV of Failures at some point, but only when I have enough successes to justify it.
Fun Fact: All crustaceans are possibly trying to become crabs.
Fun Fact About Me: I think podcast musicals are massively underrated.
News
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2025 MTI Stiles & Drewe Mentorship Prize
“Echolocation” is selected as the winner of the biennial prize and will receive development over 2025-6
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"The Shadow" to Receive Premiere
ALT will premiere short opera, written with Ivette Herryman Rodríguez, at Symphony Space in concert form
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Echolocation receives £20,000 grant
Arts Council England awards our musical a grant for dramaturgical and technical development
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Libretto to Receive Public Reading
“The Shadow” will receive reading as part of American Lyric Theater’s LIVING LIBRETTO event
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Inaugural Musical Developed with MMTL
“The Debutantes” is first piece picked for development at relaunched Manhattan Musical Theatre Lab
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Experiments in Opera Writers' Room
I'm one of eight opera-makers (four composers, four librettists) in the EiO Writers' Room 4.0
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Finalist for 2024 Stiles & Drewe Prize
"Die Like Trees", written with Bela Konstancja Kawalec, will be performed at The Other Palace
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Resident Artist at American Lyric Theater
I’m one of seven artists accepted into ALT’s Composer & Librettist Development Program
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Interviewed in The Times
I’m interviewed with the Come Dine With Me creative team ahead of our Edinburgh Fringe run.
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London Extension and Cast Announced
Come Dine With Me: The Musical is slated for an off-West End run at The Turbine Theatre.
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Venues Announced for Come Dine With Me
Come Dine With Me: The Musical will be produced at the Norwich Playhouse and Underbelly in 2024.
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Muckrakers Receives NYC Performances
Our short opera will receive performances at NYU’s Shubert Theatre and the Hudson Guild.
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Winner of ScreenCraft TV Pilot Fellowship
My TV Pilot GameStop is selected out of 2000 entries and will receive further development.
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Hairpiece premieres at Kennedy Center
Chamber opera, written with composer Joy Redmond, is performed in Washington DC.
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Finalist for 2023 Stiles + Drewe Best New Song Prize
“Time Slows Down”, from Black Holes Like Donuts, will be performed at The Other Palace, November 13th
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Selected for Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project
Eliza Randall and I are chosen for an intensive weeklong songwriting program
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Featured in Mini-Musical Festival
Black Holes Like Donuts is selected for Sound Bites X, produced by Theatre Now New York
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Selected as AOI Fellow
Three writing teams are commissioned to write short operas for the Kennedy Center
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Profiled on The Crush Bar
Aaron and I are interviewed by Fergus Morgan about “Come Dine With Me: The Musical”
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Off-West End Presentation
“Come Dine With Me: The Musical” receives its debut at The Turbine Theatre as part of MTFest 2023
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Mini-Musical Premiere in NYC
Prospect Theater Company produces “Black Holes like Donuts” as part of its CAPTION THIS concert
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Song Premiere at Catastrophe Concert
ALP Musicals produces an evening of new musical theatre at The Golden Goose Theatre, London
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Workshop at Off-Broadway Theatre
Vongai Shava and I host a free workshop on “The Audio Explosion” in Rattlestick Theater’s Global Forms Theatre Festival, NYC
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Short Opera Receives Premiere
“Three Penelopes”, written with Richie Johnsen, receives its premiere at the Royal College of Music, London
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The Yellow Wallpaper Goes to New Mexico
Blank Conversations Theatre Company performs our short musical in Las Cruces, NM
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Interviewed on Follow Spot Radio
Eliza Randall and I are interviewed about our upcoming podcast musical Echolocation
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Finalist for Stiles + Drewe Prize
Our song “A Letter at a Time” is a finalist in the Best New Song prize, and performed in the Hackney Empire
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The Yellow Wallpaper Live at Alleyway Theatre
Our short musical The Yellow Wallpaper receives its stage debut in Buffalo, NY
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Broadway World Announces Tin Pan Alley 2 Concert
I’m featured in the “International Artists” edition of the Tin Pan Alley 2 Concert Series
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Featured in Broadway Future Songbook
Our song “Play” opens the final concert of the “Broadway Future Songbook” season at the Lincoln Center
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Rattlestick Theatre Presents Village Song Series
Our song “Play” opens the Village Song Series at Off-Broadway Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre
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NYU News Features the “Chaos House”
NYU News profiles the 14-strong house of musical theatre writers where I lived during the pandemic
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Broadway World Announces The Yellow Wallpaper
Our short musical The Yellow Wallpaper receives its virtual debut courtesy of HARP Theatricals
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Interview with Frank DiLella
3x Emmy Award winner Frank DiLella profiles our house on NY1 News
@SamCreatesDrama
